“After he had gone some distance a huge mountain seemed to rise up before us.  The part facing us seemed perpendicular, just as if a mountain had been in two and one part of it had been taken away.  On this perpendicular wall I could read distinctly these words, ‘This is hell.’  My guide approached this perpendicular wall and with his spear handle gave three loud raps.  A large massive door swung back and we passed in.  I was then conducted through what appeared to be a passage through this mountain.

    “For some time we traveled in Stygian darkness.  I could hear the heavy footfalls of my guide and thus could follow him.  All along the way I could hear deep groans, as some one dying.  Further on these groans increased, and I could distinctly hear the cry for water, water—water!  Coming down to another gateway, and passing through, I could hear, it seemed, a million voices in the distance, and the cry was for water! 

    “Presently, another door opened at the knock of my guide, and I found that we had passed through the mountain and now a broad plain lay out before me.  At this place my guide left me, to direct other lost spirits to the same destination.  I remained in this open plain for some time, when a being similar to the first one came to me; but instead of a spear he had a large sword.  He came o tell me of my future doom.  He spoke with a voice that struck terror to my soul.  ‘Thou art in hell,’ said he; ‘for thee all hope if fled.  As thou passed through the mountain on thy journey hither, thou didst hear groans and shrieks of lost souls as they call for water to cool their parched tongues.  Along that passage there is a door that opens into the lake of fire.  This is soon to be thy doom.  Before thou art conducted to this place of torment, never more to emerge—there is no hope for those who enter there—thou shalt be permitted to remain in this open plain, where it is granted to all the lost to behold what they might have enjoyed, instead of what they must suffer.’

    “With this I was left alone.  Whether the result of the terrible fright through which I had passed, I know not but now I became stupefied.  A dull weakness took possession of my frame.  My strength departed from me.  My limbs refused longer to support my body.  Overcome, I now sank down a helpless mass.  Drowsiness now took control of me.  Half awake, half asleep, I seemed to dream.
    “Far above me and in the distance I saw the beautiful City of which we read in the Bible.  How wonderfully beautifully beautiful were its wall of jasper!  Stretching out and away in the distance, I saw vast plains covered with beautiful flowers.  I, too, beheld the river of life and the sea of glass.  Vast multitudes of angels would pass in and out through the gates of the City, singing, oh, such beautiful songs!  Among them I saw my dear old mother who had died a few years ago because of my wickedness.  She looked toward me and seemed to beckon me to her, but I could not move.

    “There appeared to be a great weight upon me that held me down.  Now a gentle breeze wafted the fragrance of those flowers to me, and I could now, more plainly than ever, hear the sweet melody of angel voices, and I said, ‘Oh, that I might be one of them.’  As I was drinking of this cup of bliss it was suddenly dashed from my lips.  I was aroused from my slumbers.  I was brought back from my happy dreamland by an inmate of my dark abode, who said to me that it was now time to enter upon my future career.  He bade me follow him.

    “Retracing my steps, I again entered the dark passage way, and followed my guide for a time, when we came to a door that opened in the side of the passage, and going along this, we finally found ourselves passing through another door, and lo! I beheld the lake of fire.  Just before me I could see, as far as the eye could reach, the literal lake of fire and brimstone.  Huge billows of fire would roll over, each other, and great waves of fiery flame would dash against each other and leap high in the air like the waves of the sea during a violent storm.  On the crest of the waves, I could see human beings rise, but soon to be carried down again to the lowest depths of the lake of fire.  When borne on the crest of these awful billows for a time, their curses against a just God would be appalling, and their pitiful cries for water would be heart-rending.  This vast region of fire echoed and re-echoed with the wails of these lost spirits.

    “Presently, I turned my eyes to the door through which I had a few moments before entered, and I read these awful words:  ‘This is thy doom, Eternity never ends.’  Shortly I began to feel the ground give way beneath my feet, and I soon found myself sinking down into the lake of fire.  An indescribable thirst for water now seized upon me.  And calling for water, my eyes opened in the prison hospital.

    “I have never told this experience of mine before, for fear the prison officials would get hold of it and think me insane, and lock me up in the crankhouse.  I passed through all this, and I’m sure there’s a heaven and there is a hell, a regular old-fashioned hell, the kind the Bible tells about.  But there is one thing certain, I am never going to that place any more.  As soon as I opened my eyes in the hospital and found that I was alive and on earth once more, I immediately gave my heart to God, and I am going to live and die a Christian.  While the terrible sight of hell can never be banished from my memory, neither can the beautiful things of heaven that I saw.

    “I am going to met my dear old mother after awhile; to be permitted to sit down on the banks of that beautiful river; to wander with those angels across the plains, through the vales and over the hills carpeted with fragrant flowers, the beauty of which far surpasses anything that mortal men can imagine; to listen to the songs of the saved—all this will more than recompense me for living the life of a Christian here on earth, even if I have to forego many sensual pleasures in which I indulged before coming to prison.  I have abandoned my companions in crime, and am going to associate with good people when I am once more free.’

    After he got through with this wonderful story, I asked him if he was going to tell others of this experience when he got out.  His reply was that people would not believe him and he would keep it to himself.  We give the account to the reader just as we received it from Lennox.  We don’t pretend to solve the mystery.  Read Luke l6.

(Selected and copied from a Gospel Tract published by OSTERHUS Publishing Co., Minneapolis, MN 55422)